NPR's Martin Kaste reports that in addition to all of the usual problems associated with illegal drug production, the drug trade in Colombia is causing environmental problems. Chemicals such as ammonia and sulfuric acid, used in the production of cocaine, end up in rivers that flow through sensitive ecosystems such as the country's rain forest. Colombian officials have used the environmental argument to obtain a billion dollars of U-S aid money to fight the cocaine industry. They say their efforts to eradicate illegal drug production will save vast areas of rain forest.
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